Cognitive depressive symptoms associated with delayed heart rate recovery following interpersonal stress in healthy men and women

Among cardiac patients, research suggests that somatic depressive symptoms are more strongly associated with altered cardiovascular responses to stress than cognitive depressive symptoms. This study sought to determine whether this was also the case in healthy individuals. One hundred and ninety-nine adults from the community completed the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) and underwent psychological laboratory stressors while their blood pressure, heart rate, and heart rate variability were monitored. A cognitive-affective factor and somatic-affective factor were identified within the BDI-II, but only the cognitive factor was associated with reduced heart rate recovery following the stressors in multivariate analyses examining both factors simultaneously. This suggests that cognitive depressive symptoms may be more strongly related to altered stress physiology following psychological stressors.